A good, steady, day yesterday. Recorded the first four piano sequences for the Salomé album, arguably the most difficult, which was my aim; Freud's Lecture, Sit With Your Ghost, Lou Salomé Remembers and The Bird in Borrowed Feathers. After these, I thought that I need to extend and expand the works, so added a new ending to Lou Salomé Remembers, and spend a frustrating few hours trying to smooth out the join. Ideally I'd simply replay it all, but some arts of this take were just right. I continually thought of Glenn Gould and his obsession for recording perfection.
I made lots of plans and was full of energy and inspiration in the evening, but this fizzled away into a night of insomnia and crippling stomach pain. Today was one of constant pain and tiredness, which makes summoning any energy difficult; the stomach is the seat of emotion. It is impossible to feel or guide any emotion with stomach pain - I'm reminded that before the 20th century, all psychological cures were focued on digestion and the bowels. So far today, the addition of annoying nags from others have ended music work. I've occupied myself my making a custom wooden stand to hold the masks for photography, and making wooden parts for a possible projector screen (design number two).
I expect that I'll manage a few more piano recordings later. I think most of the music will be piano based, with only a few extra instruments to augment this, perhaps a few strings. I'm toying with more epic guitar parts for some, but this may change the character too much; it depends how new and how long I'd like the recording to be vs. the live versions played so far. The only criteria is that it should be the best it can.
As time moves on, each of these projects take me longer and longer. Sometimes for good reason, the time does improve the work, but there is a balance. I must avoid becoming Leonardo da Vinci or Sibelius. Only finished and published work counts for anything.
